Machine for scaling lumber



April 27, 1937. W. F. M CABE MACHINE FOR SCALING LUMBER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 14, 1936 A ril 27, 1937'. W. F. MCCABE 2,078,335

MACHINE FOR SCALING LUMBER Filed April 14, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ghwcnfoz H; jazz/ 2242256 Patented Apr. 27, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 12 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved machine for measuring or scaling lumber in board feet, and while the machine has been designed for this specific purpose, it will be obvious from my disclosure that the machine may be employed for measuring the surface area of sheets of various material.

At the present time lumbermen are using a method for sealing lumber whereby accuracy depends to a great extent on the judgment or guess work of the operator, and one of the objects of my invention is to supply a machine to the industry which will be consistent in its measurements and have a much greater degree of accuracy.

With the foregoing object outlined and with other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in the novel features hereinafter described in detail, illustrated in the drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective view partially broken away of my improved machine.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a detail illustrating the manner in which a toothed tabulating' wheel of the machine operates recording mechanism.

Referring to the drawings, 4 designates a board which may be fed over a table 5 by any suitable means (not shown). Immediately above the table I arrange a pair of rollers 6 and I designed to rest on a board as the latter moves through the machine. As the board travels, it will cause rotation of the rollers and these are preferably geared together by a shaft 8 and worm gearing 9 and III.

A third roller ll having tripping teeth I 2 is positioned above the other rollers and is driven from one of the latter by means of a shaft 13 and worm gearing l4 and I5.

It will be obvious from the foregoing that rotation of the roller 1 will cause rotation of the trip roller H. The teeth of the latter are arranged to actuate plungers 16 which are yieldingly retained in normal position by springs I'l. Each plunger is supported by a U-shaped member or yoke I8, guided by bars l9. Each yoke is normally held in an elevated position by a link 20 having its upper end pivoted to the yoke and its lower end pivotally connected at 2| to a bell crank lever 22. A series of these levers are arranged side by side and pivotally mounted on a horizontal shaft 23, and the lower ends of the levers normally project into the path of movement of the board 4 whereby when a board is to be passed through the machine, it will raise a number of levers, depending on the width of the board, and this will cause the corresponding links 2!] to lower a number of the yokes l8 so as to bring the plungers 16 into position to be engaged by the teeth l2. When the plungers are in such position, they can actuate a toothed tabulating wheel 24 which may be prevented from reversely rotating by a pawl 25. The shaft 26 of the roller may be employed to actuate any suitable recorder 21 (Fig. 3).

In operation it will be understood that when a piece of lumber is passed under the rollers 6 and 1, it will cause them to revolve, and they in turn will cause rotation of the trip roller H which in this way will be caused to revolve once to each linear foot of lumber passing under the rollers 6 and 1. Of course, as the piece 01 lumber goes through the machine, it will elevate the lower ends of a number of the levers 22 and cause them to lower a corresponding number of the yokes I8 with the plungers which they carry. Thus the plungers will be placed in position to make contact with the teeth or trips I2, and thereby the tabulating roller 24 will be rotated. The teeth I2 are, of course, properly arranged to accurately turn the roller 24, and as each plunger moves forwardly, it will turn the roller 24 one notch. As soon as a plunger is released by a tooth, the spring I! of the plunger will re-' turn it to its normal position.

Such an operation measures and records one linear foot of lumber one quarter of an inch 3 wide and one inch thick or three cubic inches board measure. Forty-eight such operations turn the tabulating roller one complete revolu tion, which records one board foot on the recorder 21.

As soon as a board passes through, of course, the elevated ones of the levers 22 drop downwardly and again elevate their yokes l8 to positions where they cannot be struck by the trips I 2.

My machine may be made portable, and of course, it can be made of any width. The machine illustrated was designed to be four feet in width; any machine over four feet would necessitate an increase in the circumference of the trip roller H and a redistribution of the trips l2.

The power for operating the machine is furnished by the pressure of lumber passing under the rollers 6 and i. It can be operated by hand or machine power, but any power used to move the lumber must be supplied by means having no driving connection with my machine.

All calculations for this particular machine are based on lumber one inch in thickness. Lumber of a greater or lesser thickness than one inch will have to be computed accordingly.

While I have disclosed what I now consider to be a preferred embodiment of the invention in such manner that the same may be readily understood by those skilled in the art, I am aware that changes may be made in the details disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention as expressed in the claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A lumber scaling machine comprising rolling means adapted to be contacted by a piece of lumber passing through a machine and thereby actuated by the lumber, a trip device operatively connected with and actuated by the rolling means, a tabulating element, means including elements elevated by the lumber as it passes through the machine, and a movable member carried by the last-mentioned means and adapted to be actuated by the trip device for moving said tabulating element.

2. A lumber scaling machine comprising rolling means adapted to be contacted by a piece of lumber passing through a machine and thereby actuated by the lumber, a trip device operatively connected with and actuated by the rolling means, a tabulating element, means shiftable by the lumber as it passes through the machine, and a movable member carried by the shiftable means and adapted to be actuated by the trip device for moving said tabulating element, said trip device consisting of a roller provided with spaced peripheral teeth.

3. A lumber scaling machine comprising rolling means adapted to be contacted by a piece of lumber passing through a machine and thereby actuated by the lumber, a trip device operatively connected with and actuated by the rolling means, a tabulating element, means shiftable by the lumber as it passes through the machine, and a movable member carried by the shiftable means and adapted to be actuated by the trip device for moving said tabulating element, said tabulating element consisting of an elongated roller provided with peripheral teeth extending throughout substantially the entire length of the roller.

4. A lumber scaling machine comprising rolling means adapted to be contacted by a piece of lumber passing through a machine and thereby actuated by the lumber, a trip device operatively connected with and actuated by the rolling means, a tabulating element, means shiftable by the lumber as it passes through the machine, a movable member carried by the shiftable means and adapted to be actuated by the trip device for moving said tabulating element, said shiftable means comprising pivotally mounted levers arranged to project into the path of movement of the lumber and to be shifted by the latter.

5. A lumber scaling machine comprising rolling means adapted to be contacted by a piece of lumber passing through a machine and thereby actuated by the lumber, a trip device operatively connected with and actuated by the rolling means, a tabulating element, means shiftable by the lumber as it passes through the machine, a movable member carried by the shiftable means and adapted to be actuated by the trip device for moving said tabulating element, said shiftable means comprising a series of yokes, and links supporting the yokes.

6. In a machine of the character described, means adapted to be actuated by a piece of lumber passing through a machine and comprising a pivotally mounted lever, a link supported by the lever, a yoke supported by the link, a springpressed plunger carried by the yoke, a trip roller having a tooth engageable with the plunger for moving the latter, and a toothed tabulating roller actuated by the plunger.

'7. In a machine of the character described, a

trip roller adapted to be rotated by a piece of lumber as the latter moves through the machine, a series of levers pivotally mounted and arranged to be shifted by the piece of lumber as the latter travels through the machine, links actuated by the levers, yokes actuated by the links, springpressed plungers carried by the yokes and arranged to be struck by the teeth of the trip roller, and a toothed tabulating roller actuated by the plungers.

8. In a machine of the character described, rollers arranged to be rotated by a piece of lumbe r as the latter passes through the machine, a trip roller actuated by the first-mentioned rollers and having spaced peripheral teeth, springpressed plungers arranged to be actuated by said teeth, a toothed tabulating roller actuated by the plungers.

9. In a machine of the character described, a toothed trip roller adapted to be rotated by a piece of lumber as the latter passes through the machine, spring-pressed plungers adapted to be actuated by the teeth of the roller. means shift able by the lumber for moving the plungers from positions where they cannot be struck by the teeth of the roller into positions where they can be engaged by the teeth of the roller, and a toothed tabulating roller arranged to be engaged by the plungers for rotating the tabulating roller.

10. A lumber scaling machine comprising horizontal rollers adapted to be rotated by a piece of lumber as the latter passes through the machine, a trip roller having spaced peripheral teeth, means for rotating the trip roller by movement of the first-mentioned rollers, springpressed plungers adapted to be actuated by said teeth, means for shifting said plungers from positions where they cannot be struck by the teeth into positions where they can be struck by the teeth, and a toothed tabulating roller arranged to be actuated by the plungers when the latter are in the last-mentioned position.

11. A liunber scaling machine comprising rolling means adapted to contact a piece of lumber and to be rotated thereby as the lumber passes through the machine, a trip roller operatively connected with and actuated by the rolling means, a tabulating element, a series of depending pivotally mounted levers arranged to rock about an axis parallel to the axis of the roller and adapted to be shifted by the lumber as it passes through the machine, a series of yokes actuated by the levers and shiftable toward and away from said roller, each yoke being connected to a complementary one of the levers, and movable members carried by said yokes and adapted to be actuated by the trip roller for moving said tabulating element.

12. A lumber scaling machine comprising elongated rolling means adapted to contact pieces of lumber of various widths and to be rotated thereby as the lumber passes through the machine, a trip device operatively connected with I and adapted to be actuated by the rolling means as long as a piece of lumber is passing through the machine, a tabulating element, a series of fingers extending across the machine parallel to the rolling means and controlled entirely by the lumber as it passes through the machine, movable members each operatively connected to one of said fingers and to be shifted by the latter into and out of position to be contacted by the trip device, each of said members being adapted to engage said tabulating element for moving the latter when one of said movable members is actuated by the trip device.

WILLIAM F. MCCABE. 

